22
Jan

Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich attacked by Apple.

We all know that Apple’s Co-Founder, the late Steve Jobs number one goal was to destroy Android, and it looks like his employees are still working on that now. The latest to come out in the Apple vs. Samsung story, is that Apple is sueing for the “Slide to Unlock” in Ice Cream Sandwich – Android 4.0, which is currently only officially available on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (I know some of us have it on our rooted devices). Apple does own the patent for the “Slide-to-unlock” feature that has been in the iPhone for as long as I can remember, so the lawsuit is legit, but I think it’s going a bit to far.

Patent Analyst Florian Mueller spoke with AllThingsD on the matter, ”Judging by the first three weeks of 2012, Apple’s intellectual property assertions against Android continue to escalate. Samsung appears to be no less determined to fight. Apple’s supplemental infringement contentions targeting the Android 4.0 lead device are an unequivocal signal to Google that Apple doesn’t shy away from a frontal assault.”

It’s important to note that the “Slide-to-Unlock” feature which is new in Android 4.0, does differ from Apple’s unlocking gesture. But we don’t know how the court is going to see it. One of the big differences is being able to slide in different directions and unlock to different tasks like the camera – CyanogenMod 9 is rumored to be adding more for sliding up and down.

It’s obvious that Samsung is perhaps an even bigger threat to Apple then Android and Google right now, Samsung recently dethroned Apple as the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world. So it looks like Apple wants that title back.

What’s your take on this matter? Is this worth a lawsuit? Let us know in the comments below.